We Have a Great Big God: Teaching Kids the 3 O’s of God’s Character

There is no doubt that we serve a great big God. He is omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent. But if we use those adjectives to describe God’s bigness to our young kids, their eyes will grow wide with confusion – thinking we’ve lost our mind or that we’re speaking another language! Helping kids understand their great big God is vital to their foundational understanding of who their loving heavenly Father is.

Check out some ideas for simplifying the three “o’s” below!

Omniscient

God is all knowing. He knew every inch of our being before we were born, and He knows every inch of our being now. He knows us inside and out! A great starting place to talk to our kids about God’s omniscience is Psalms.

Lord, you have examined me.
You know all about me.
You know when I sit down and when I get up.
You know my thoughts before I think them.
You know where I go and where I lie down.
You know well everything I do. Lord, even before I say a word, You already know what I am going to say. — Psalm 139:1-4

God knows our next move. He even knows our thoughts before we do! Here’s a fun exercise: Find a comfy place to sit with your kids, and start up a conversation. At some point, stop and ask if they know what you are going to say next. Of course, they won’t! Ask them, “Did you know that God knows? He knew what I was going to say before I knew!”

He counts the stars
and names each one.
Our Lord is great and very powerful.
There is no limit to what He knows. — Psalm 147:4-5

God’s knowledge is limitless! Another way to explore this with our kids is to grab a blanket and go outside on a beautiful Summer evening,. As we lay on the grass, looking up at the night sky, we can ask if they know how many stars are in the sky. As they say the biggest number they can think of, we can ask them, “Did you know that God knows exactly how many stars and even names every single one of them?” To make it even more fun, lay there naming stars to see how far you get. (For a fun fact, there’s about 100 billion stars in the universe!)

Yes, God even knows how many hairs you have on your head. Don’t be afraid. You are worth much more than many sparrows. — Luke 12:7

There are over 7 billion people on the Earth, and God knows how many hairs all those people have on their heads! That’s incredible! Next time one of our children says, “I’m bored,” we can have them start counting the number of hairs on their head. They will probably tire pretty quickly. That’s when we can point out that God knows exactly how many hairs they have on their head! Wow!

Omnipresent

God’s presence is everywhere. There’s nowhere we can go to hide from Him, because everywhere we go, He is already there!

“No one can hide
where I cannot see him,” says the Lord.
“I fill all of heaven and earth,” says the Lord. — Jeremiah 23:24

We cannot hide from God, because He fills heaven and earth. We can encourage our kids to play a classic game of hide-and-go-seek. Once they are worn out from all the running around, over snacks we can start a conversation about how God was in each and every place they hid. Next, ask what their best hiding spot was, and say that even there, God was with them. His presence is in every hiding spot on heaven and earth, even the best ones!

The Lord’s eyes see everything that happens.
He watches both evil and good people. — Proverbs 15:3

God sees everything! A fun activity we can do with our kids: Gather some paper and art supplies, and get creative drawing a pair of eyes. While creating, we can talk about God’s eyes and that they see everything that happens. There’s nothing hidden from His sight, because His presence is everywhere!

Omnipotent

God is all powerful! There’s nothing or no one that has more power than Him. What looks impossible to us is always possible with God!

The Lord’s voice is heard over the sea.
The glorious God thunders.
The Lord thunders over the great ocean. — Psalm 29:3

God’s voice is heard over the sea! A great game to help our kids understand this is to have them stand far away. We can say something in a normal voice, and ask them if they hear it. I bet that like my kids, yours will be blown away when they learn that God’s powerful voice can be heard loud and clear like thunder on a rainy day.

The Lord said to Moses, “Go ahead of the people of Israel. And take some of the elders of Israel with you. Carry with you the walking stick that you used to strike the Nile River. Now go! I will stand in front of you on a rock at Mount Sinai. Hit that rock with the stick, and water will come out of it. Then the people can drink.” — Exodus 17:5-6

God is so powerful that He can make water come from a rock! We can explore for rocks and sticks with our kids. After they’ve gathered their goods, we can tell them to hit their rocks with their sticks and make water come out. After unsuccessful attempts, we can tell them that God is so powerful that He can make water come out of rocks!

For the little, little ones in our lives, a simpler way of explaining our great big God is by reading My Great Big God by Andy Holmes. He will take our kids on a journey of stories of the Bible that demonstrate just how powerful our God is!

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Your Turn

How do you help your kids understand who our great big God is?

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